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evasive wrote:Let me check if there's ISO files out there that can be had without directly turning your PC into a smoking pile of malware infections... basically 99% of them has some sort of infection...

There is something really wrong with this PC. I obtained a genuine Windows XP full installation cd and it's still giving me the same error message: "Insert Boot media in selected Boot device and press a Key".I installed tried THREE different cd rom drives and all have failed to boot the cd.I tried a new ribbon cable and it didn't have any effect.The BIOS appears to recognize each cd drive (since I'm able to change the boot order), so what the heck is the problem?Could there be something wrong with the mobo?How would I troubleshoot and isolate any potential hardware problems on the board?

Btw, I installed the bad hard drive that is failing and now it appears to be truly dead, as I received the following error message: windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: windows\system32\config\system. The work-around to solve this error message requires installation of the Windows Operating System cd, which ironically will not load. haha...

Is the optical drive a SATA or PATA type? Should be no problem if SATA. But for PATA, the configuration jumper must match the header function, be it master or slave. For optical drives more than 5 years old, a 40-wire ribbon cable may be acceptable. For any drive newer, an 80-wire ribbon cable is best. And on the secondary PATA port, not on the primary port with a hard drive.The BIOS page for boot order should have the 'search for other boot paths' enabled. List the optical drive as first choice, the hard drive as second. Do not use a 'network' search path. Perhaps the optical drives have acquired cloudy or dusty lenses. They are polycarbonate, and attractive to dust and airborne pollutants. Use a laser cleaning disk on the lens, or a dry cotton swap very gently to clean the lens.

One last thought.. why not get a DVD optical drive, can read both DVD/CD formats.

Everything is PATA and uses 40-wire ribbon cable. My mobo has ribbon cable for the disc drives and another ribbon cable for the optical drives. I've tried swapping cables and even tried using a ribbon cable from a different pc.All three optical drives are CD/DVD drives.None seem to boot any of the three different Windows OS cd's.The BIOS seems straight forward.Boot optical first. Boot hdd second.Jumpers are set correctly.Puzzled...

The pirated WinXP Pro Corp Edition does not boot.However, the other WinXP full installation cd does boot.I don't suppose I could format the drive in this *other* pc and then simply move the hard drive over to the PC that I'm trying to fix?This *other* pc is a Dell, and mine is HP.If I recall, this will not work.

Something is fouled up here. If no prompt to "press any key to boot from CD" appears, then likely the BIOS cannot read the autorun.inf file on the optical disk. Have you tried an 80-wire data cable, using the 'master' end on the optical drive, set as 'master'? Check in the BIOS pages that AHCI is enabled.It would not be good to install an OS on a different PC then expect it to work on another. The OS would see itself as pirated, and self-destruct. Only if all the chipsets and features are identical, is there a possibility it would work!